In her photographic series ‘From the Inside’ (2000-2002), the artist Sue Williamson addresses the South African epidemic by engaging with people living with HIV/AIDS who are willing to disclose their status and to pose for portrait shots. She has statements they make about the virus and its effects painted on walls in public places around Cape Town and Johannesburg, which she then also documents as photographs. These are then printed side by side with the portraits. John Masuku, quoted above, is one such subject of the series. Both Masuku's statement and his participation in the art project demonstrate his openness about HIV/AIDS and his commitment to public discussion. Sue Williamson and John Masuku thus unite their productive and artistic efforts to face the epidemic in a forthright and compelling manner.

Williamson's work on ‘From the Inside’ was commissioned for the Thirteenth International AIDS Conference held in Durban, South Africa in July 2000 and led to her collaboration with Masuku and other South Africans living with HIV/AIDS. Since 1985 the conference has regularly taken place in many cities around the world. Organised by the International AIDS Society in cooperation with United Nations agencies (UNAIDS), international non-governmental organisations and groups from the host country, this event commonly brings together more than ten thousand individuals from various backgrounds, including medical professionals and scientists, community health care workers, people living with HIV/AIDS, AIDS activists and journalists.